Guilty Plea In Drug Case

Reuters

Published: May 26, 1989

WASHINGTON, May 25—
A former supervisor for the Food and Drug Administration pleaded guilty to racketeering charges stemming from a 10-month Federal investigation of corruption in the administration's generic drugs division, Federal prosecutors said today.

A generic drug company executive gave the F.D.A. supervisory chemist, Charles Y. Chang, 47 years old, of Potomac, Md., a free trip around the world costing about $3,700 and furniture and a personal computer worth about $15,000, prosecutors in the United States Attorney's office in Baltimore said.

The executive was identified by Raju Vegesna, the president of American Therapeutics Inc. of Bohemia, L.I., the prosecutors said.

In return for these and other benefits, Mr. Chang moved American Therapeutics' drug approval applications quickly through the bureaucracy, leaked information to Mr. Vegesna from competitors' applications ''and generally served as trouble-shooter for A.T.I.'s interests in the generic drugs division,'' the prosecutors said.

Neither Mr. Vegesna nor American Therapeutics has been charged, but a grand jury investigation is continuing, the prosecutors said.

Mr. Chang, who has been cooperating with investigators, faces up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines on two counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering. He had been charged on the same criminal counts earlier this month.